Journalist, entrepreneur and marketing firm founder. I write about higher ed and early career issues. Pithily. I was pontificating about Millennials and Millennial culture back when they were still known as Gen Y.

I soldiered through every episode of the inaugural season of Girls. I felt watching it was my Millennial duty. I will not be making the same mistake when season two premieres on HBO tonight. My blood pressure can’t take it. Sure, a show focused on the exploits of privileged young(ish) white people in New York is nothing new, but at least the frivolity of Friends wasn’t heralded as the television totem of a generation and the characters of Seinfeld blatantly reveled in their pettiness and unlikeability. And despite the fact that I personally refuse to accept that my early twenties sisters are mired in such a self-obsessed morass of bad sex (if you’re under 30 and haven’t heard of Betty Dodson, you need to fix that), dead-end pseudo-relationships, social dysthymia and clueless narcissism that they believe Lena Dunham’s opus is “OMG, SO REAL,” there are actually objective measures by which Girls utterly fails to accurately capture the reality of the Gen Y experience it’s been lauded as embodying. This show is no generational shibboleth. To wit:

No one lives at home

A third of Millennials have lived at home at some point during the Great Recession, but the characters on Girls all live on their own, despite the fact that the show takes place in the most expensive city in America and the majority of them aren’t working the kind of jobs that could support independent lifestyles – if they’re working at all. Parental subsidies might be somewhat commonplace during these tough economic times, but they more often come in the form of room and board vs. bankrolling their children’s citified lifestyles. This brings me to the next point:

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“It reminds me of the HBO show, “Girls”–yeah, I went there. Critics have blasted the show because the main characters lack friends of color. And I giggle at that–yes, giggle.

People often get offended by fiction when it reflects reality. I know young ladies like the ones on ‘Girls’–and they don’t have black friends. And there’s the difference between diversity and inclusiveness: inclusiveness would be Lena Dunham embracing a world that’s less white; diversity would be a show with more minority characters. Without the former, you won’t have the latter.

And that’s why ‘Girls’ doesn’t make me uncomfortable…but does make a lot of young white Americans uncomfortable.”

To be fair, this isn’t a criticism limited to Girls; the majority of the current tv and film landscape doesn’t accurately reflect the racial and ethnic composition of America. And you’re right, being part of Gen Y doesn’t automatically mean you aren’t living in an insular, privileged bubble and that any creative projects you produce will transcend your corresponding insular, privileged world view. It’s an explanation for what we (don’t) see on the screen, but I don’t think it should be an excuse.

I don’t think people are just offended because it is a show that does not reflect ethnic, sexual, cultural or economic diversity – a lot of popular shows are not focused on diversity and those shows are never criticised for it – BUT those shows don’t claim to be the voice of our generation unlike Girls. If Millennials were exclusively defined as Western middle-class, white, tertiary educated twenty-somethings who sit just around and bitch and moan about their first world problems than there would be a basis to that claim – but being a millennial myself I can tell you that’s not the case

I joke that I hate watch “Girls” for the same reason I watch another show about selfish, spoiled, entitled brats: Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I watch it for a glimpse at how the “other half” lives. This WaPo article sums up my feelings well: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-lena-dunham-is-a-kardashian-at-heart/2013/01/11/ea35af4a-59d0-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html

While the rest of us in Gen Y are suffering through a grueling march of interviews in which we DON’T make date rape jokes or wear apple print cardigans, Lena Dunham has the luxury of making millions on what is essentially a reality show about herself and her friends. She’s not insightful or tuned-in to Gen Y issues, because she represents only a tiny microcosm of the experience.

Thank you for pointing out what is, to me, the most relevant complaint about the characters in the show: their unapologetic, parasitic mooching. If the show is “OMG sooo real,” then it should at least passingly mention the fact that Hannah is probably thousands in debt to Marnie and her parents, yet she still manages to wear American Apparel and Urban Outfitters clothes every day.

Lack of diversity has basically become a “regular” thing so while we lament it, we are also very over it. And rightfully, those who are not represented just ignore those shows. I too was pummeled by the media praise about the show, and after watching it was just saddened by these kids who were clearly not capable of any deep thoughts, probably all have some mental illness. They were out of touch with their environment/parents and most importantly themselves. Hell, they don’t even look like the “white kids” I know! And actually, one of the guys in the show, I don’t remember his name (Marni’s bf’s friend, the guy that ends up taking that other girl’s virginity- lol, that’s how memorable they all were), did call them out on their irresponsible behavior about “free-loading” on their parents and wanted to live their “dream” whatever that is. He’s the only one that had a grip with reality in there and told them that “if you have to flip burgers at McDonalds to pay your student loans, then you got to do it”. He is the only person real in all of these characters. Won’t be watching the new season.

Girls is a show that embodies a certain breed of Gen Yers; the point is not to line up precisely with the “statistics,” but to present stories about a specific culture rather than creating some kind of artificial “multicultural” perspective. This idea of creating television that perfectly embodies an entire generation is ridiculous. It can’t be done and it has never been done.

J. Maureen, if I recall correctly, the first episode of the first season does open on Hannah’s finding out that her parents are cutting her off, which then leads to the season’s arc of her finding internships and minor jobs one after another.

I can see why a realist would balk at the lengths to which Dunham goes to avoid dwelling on these topics of personal finance, but it’s not a far stretch to have viewers think that 20-somethings can save costs by rooming together, living in Bushwick, and working multiple part-time jobs.

To call NYC the most expensive city in America is both true and false. If you’re trying to find a 1500-square foot 2-bedroom place on the Upper East Side, you’ll need to be among the 1%. But if you can get by living in a 400 square-foot railroad-apartment studio in a dodgy neighborhood in Brooklyn or Queens, you can still do that without having to work 40 hours a week.

I feel that the show gets “too much”- both acclaim and criticism. I think that it is unfair to nearly any show to herald it as a representation of a generation- particularly at this point, when experiences are so varied and diverse. For the same reason, I think it’s also unfair to criticize the show for not accurately representing a generation.

I feel like the show should be judged based on what it is when culled away from all of the hype and fervor and hate-tweets and proclamations: a show about specific characters (yes, flawed, self-absorbed, and to varying degrees, emotionally masochistic) dealing with situations. If you’re entertained by it, great. If not- don’t watch it.

While there are many points on which I disagree with Lena Dunham, I am happy to see a woman succeed writing a story that is funny and authentic to her own experiences. If I were held up to the level of praise, criticism, and media (and Internet armchair critic) scrutiny that Dunham deals with, I think I would crumble- regardless of how much money I was making. I think many of us want to be able to tell a story that speaks to the experiences that we’ve had. Instead of criticizing Dunham for not representing every single one of our experiences, why can’t we use that energy to encourage networks like HBO to make room for additional authentic stories to be heard? Why not use the success of “Girls” to pave the way for TV shows that authentically portray the experiences of people with less privilege and with more diversity?